Chapter 1

RIKA POV

5th July 1983

We've never seen the supermarket this packed before! I had no idea, but Satoko told me that a huge sale was happening, and they were giving away free stuff with every purchase. Both of us knew that this was a deal that we couldn't miss.

No wonder Satoko was in such a hurry today. I've really got to learn how I could possibly get this much intel so quickly.

Now that I think about it, it is the beginning of July, I can see why that would be the case, with it taking advantage of the season.

"Come on, Rika. We don't have a minute to lose! Those extra special products will be gone before you know it. It could really be useful for my next great trap."

"You sure are a master of traps!"

"Well anyway, that's not the point of this trip. You know that we need ingredients for tonight's dinner. Katsu curry, was it?"

"Meep. But we don't even have a proper oven to prepare that, so it's just going to have to be regular meat with our curry tonight. You haven't really planned this all out, did you?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I guess I was too busy- um, planning out my traps that I didn't really think dinner through. My bad."

With the events that had happened only weeks ago, it's no wonder that Satoko had been thinking about her traps all this time.

Tonight, we were going to treat ourselves with a wonderful curry dinner. We never usually have curry, so this will be a special occasion.

I have to make sure it will be perfect, so I will be picking out the ingredients. Satoko was still learning, yet she is getting better by the day. I'm impressed!

In all of my years of being with her, it's always been a joy to get in on her antics. She is so full of energy and makes any day brighter with her sweet smile. What a lovely girl to hang out with.

As I help her with the ingredients, I subconsciously reminisce on Satoko's past.

It's no surprise that I enjoy my time with Satoko very often. I have been great friends with her since the Dam Conflict; I've been there for her whenever she needs it and I made sure that she didn't get hurt too much.

It was clear when the going got tough that there were some restrictions on meeting her. She was horribly abused by her aunt - and in some worlds, her uncle too - but it all cleared up in the end.

I remember how I had lost all hope whenever that scenario appears in the world I'm in. In that world where we reigned over that one hurdle in my life, as Hanyuu put it, I was so happy to see her free once again, able to roam without any harm from even the villagers. I could imagine myself joyous for her return. That must've been where I truly learned that you could break fate.

Although, maybe I have to admit: I really did miss her during those times. It was really depressing living alone like that. I mean, how could I possibly live without having to lose anyone? How could I possibly live without my friends?

How could I possibly live without her?

How could I possibly live without Satoko?

How could I possibly live without my beloved-

"R-Rika, are you alright?"

Her question immediately snapped me back to reality. I seemed to have shifted my gaze at Satoko somehow.

"Oh, hehehehe, sorry, I must be drifting off somewhere. Nipah~!"

"Well, you can't be dozing off now. We got some ingredients to pick out, so let's get that done as soon as possible."

"Okay!"

What was I thinking just then? What was my mind fixating on just then? I suddenly felt a slight sensation, like butterflies in my stomach. My cheeks felt all tense. I could feel my heart racing. I must've felt something seriously emotional.

I couldn't think straight about this. I'll need to think deeply about this later.

We've made an unbelievably delicious dinner that night. We both did our fair share of cooking and made sure that we didn't overcook each other's share of the curry. Satoko had been taught pretty well, I suppose. I'll have to thank Hanyuu for that.

Speaking of which, after all that was said and done; after tucking Satoko back to sleep, I sat back at my favourite spot on the window sill. As if she had been requested, Hanyuu appeared before me. She changes her form to whichever one she wants, so tonight, she was in her spectural form.

"Rika, is there something bothering you? You don't seem to be your usual self. Au au~."

"I don't know what has come over me. It probably started a few days ago, but it became apparent only today what I was feeling. It almost felt like my heart skipped a beat."

"Hmm, tell me more." Hanyuu seemed quite interested in what I have to say.

"Well... I have known Satoko for almost all of my 100 years of living. Being so close to her all this time, I might've never realised but my feelings for her might've developed into something- let's just say that... I want to be more than friends. More than a friendship with her."

"I think I know where this is going, au au! ...You love Satoko, don't you?"

"U- Well, I'm not certain of that. That could probably just be a coincidence. There has to be some other cause for this."

"C'mon Rika, you don't need to hide. I promise that I won't make fun of you for thinking that." That got me blushing almost instantly.

"Well... okay, maybe it might be because I'm starting to have feelings for Satoko. The thing is, what do I do now? In all these years, I had never considered a relationship. I don't even know where to begin. How could I even make this right?"

"Look Rika, I may not be an expert on this kind of thing, but I have experienced love between humans whilst I was observing them. If you want, maybe I could tell you a thing or two about how you can successfully pull this off. I've seen countless successes myself, so I've got a good idea about how it all works."

"Hmm, maybe it was right to ask you about this. You seem to know a thing or two about all this. What do you know anyway?"

"Alright, so... hmm... ...let me think... Ah, that's right, I guess the goal to having a successful relationship is to form a strong bond with the one you love. As it stands now, you already have a pretty good friendship going for now. You just need to do something to strengthen that bond. Something that will possibly make her love you back."

"You have a pretty good point there. Even though there's no telling what Satoko's feelings are like towards me, it's at least worth a try to do something about a relationship. You probably couldn't give me a lot of advice anyway, but Hanyuu, thank you for that bit of encouragement. Perhaps I'll treat you with something later.

For now, however, I will need to ponder about my plan. How am I going to get the affection from Satoko that I most desire?"

"Auuu~. You may be right in me not being much use in terms of advice, but perhaps there may be someone else that you could ask who would know more about something like this."

"Precisely, my friends, Keiichi, Rena and Mion. Perhaps they might know something, even anything about relationships. Hehe."

Hanyuu seemed to pay no attention to my suspicious laughter, unaware of the current situation.

It has been decided. I will ask my dear friends on what I could do to win the heart of Satoko. I'll call Keiichi and the club to meet up someplace tomorrow and hopefully then we could get a discussion going.

I stooped down from my window sill, preparing to make a phone call to the Maebara Residence. Before that, I closed the window because it felt cooler than usual in the room.

Perhaps it was just me, enveloped in all these emotions that I started to feel a warm sensation. So this is what it feels like to fall in love, huh?